Yanks and Mets rained out. Next 40 games crucial for Yanks to catch up.

The Yankees/Mets game was rained out tonight. ESPN was talking about the fact that both teams have a mutual off day on July 30.

Update: The game has been scheduled for an Aug. 13 makeup date. 

Maybe the Yanks caught a break, and if the game is made up that day, they miss facing DeGrom.

I took a look at the schedule. Including what would have been tonight’s game, the next 40 games, which take us right up until Labor Day, are mostly against sub-.500 teams. In those 40, the only games against teams above .500 are say, six against Tampa Bay, who went into today 50-49, and four against Boston.

Based on the quality of the teams in those 40 games, I am hoping the Yanks go 28-12 in those 40 games. Hopefully better.

28-12 would take the Yanks to 91-46 with 25 games to go. 28-12 should (we hope) cut a few games off of Boston’s now five-game lead.

The schedule is favorable until Labor Day. The Yanks MUST take advantage of it.

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Minor League Report.

Since we are in a rain delay (update: Game postponed) for the Yankees’ game, I may as well get out the minor league report for today.

AAA: SWB (53-46) lost 5-0. They got just five hits, two by DH Mike Ford, two by 3B Bruce Caldwell.

Cortes (L, 4-4, 3.38) 5 2/3 IP, 4 R, 3 H, 5 w, 3 K. Gave up 1 HR
Coshow 2 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 2 W, 2 K. Gave up 1 HR.   4.54
J. Harvey 1/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K.   1.80

AA: Trenton (54-45) won 9-2. 2B Gosuke Katoh 2 hits, 4 RBI. RF Zack Zehner HR, 2 RBI. DH Ryan McBroom solo HR.  2 hits, RBI, CF Jeff Hendrix. 2 hits, SS Wendell Rijo.

Nelson 4 IP, 2 R, 5 H, 4 W, 5 K. 4.50   just up from High A Tampa. 22, started year at Low A Charleston.
Sosebee 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 2 W, 1 K.  3.66
Reeves (W, 2-1, 2.40) 2 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 2 W, 4 K.
Frare 2 IP, 0 R 0 H, 1 W, 1 K.  0.63

High A: Tampa off.

Low A: Charleston (47-49) lost 8-1. 1B Dermis Garcia solo HR.  3B Chris Hess 2 hits.

Mauricio (L, 0-1, 13.50) 4 2/3 IP, 8 R, 8 H, 2 W, 3 K.
Alvarez 2 1/3 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 1 W, 0 K.  0.00
DeCarr 1 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 1 W, 1 K.  4.08

Minor League Report. Gleyber starts rehab.

Gleyber Torres started his rehab at High A Tampa. He was 1 for 3 with a walk and is expected to re-join the Yanks in Tampa on Wednesday when they play the Rays.

AAA: SWB (52-45) lost 5-3 in 10 innings when J.P. Feyereisen gave up a walkoff 2-run HR. 2B Rey Navarro 3 hits (triple shy of cycle) HR, 3 RBI. RF Tyler Austin 2 hits. C Kyle Higashioka 2 hits.

Sheffield 5 2/3 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 5 H, 1 W, 4 K.  2.44
Tarpley (H, 2) 1 1/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 2 K.  1.74
Kahnle (H, 3) 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K.  2.50
Carroll (BS, 3) 1 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 2 W, 1 K.  2.38
Feyereisen (L, 6-3, 1.93) 2/3 IP, 2 R, 2 H, 0 W, 0 K. Gave up 2-run walkoff HR.

AA: Trenton (53-45) lost 4-2. 1B Ryan McBroom 2 hits.

Stephan (L, 2-7, 5.17) 4 IP, 4 R, 5 H, 2 W, 6 K.
Diehl 2 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 W, 1 K.  0.00
Lail 2 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 1 W, 2 K.  5.11

High A: Tampa (49-50) lost 4-3. Torres, as you see above, started his rehab and went 1 for 3 with a walk. 1B Brandon Wagner 2-run HR. C Ryan Lidge 2 hits.

Lehnen (L, 0-2, 3.20) 5 IP, 3 R, 5 H, 2 W, 3 K.
Kamplain 1 1/3 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 2 W, 2 K.  4.47
Schwaab 1 2/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 1 K.  5.40

Low A: Charleston (47-48) won 2-1. 2 hits LF Carlos Vidal. CF Leonardo Molina 2 hits.

Junk (W, 4-2, 3.90) 6 IP, 1 R, 7 H, 2 W, 4 K.
A. Severino (H, 3) 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 0 K.  3.23
Zurak (S, 9) 2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 4 K.  2.57
 

Game 97. Yanks escape with 7-6 win.

I just about had a heart attack, along with 47,000 or so other fans, at Yankee Stadium yesterday.

Aroldis Chapman came into the game with a four-run lead, threw 19 pitches, only 3 of which were strikes, and Chasen Shreve, of all people, had to come in with the bases loaded and no one out to save a 7-6 Yankees’ win over the Mets.

The win for the 63-34 Yanks, combined with Boston’s loss to the Tigers, moved the Yanks 4 1/2 back of Boston.

The Mets scored first when Sonny Gray gave up a HR to Michael Conforto on his first pitch in the second inning.

The Yanks got four in the fourth. Stanton reached on an infield dribbler. Gregorius tripled him in. Andujar doubled on a ball that would have been a double anyway, but some jackass leaned over the fence and caught it. Security was there soon thereafter to escort him from the Stadium. 2-1 Yanks. Bird doubled, 3-1. After a flyout, Romine singled in Bird to make it 4-1 Yanks. The Mets CF had a tough time that inning, diving for a couple of balls and coming up just short on the balls hit by Didi, Bird and Romine.

In the sixth, Gray walked a couple of batters and in came Robertson. He got out of the inning but not before giving up an RBI single and then by giving up another run on a boneheaded play. With two out and runners on first and third, he tried to pick off the runner at first. The ball hit the runner and ricocheted back toward the pitcher’s mound. As the ball was ricocheting back, the runner on third (Jose Bautista) scored to make it 4-3. Robertson then struck out the batter for the last out. Concentrate on, and do that first, especially with two out, just concentrate on getting that batter out, and that other run doesn’t score.

The Yanks got the run back in the bottom of the sixth on a double by Andujar and single by Bird. 5-3.

Aaron Judge homered in the seventh (26) to make it 6-3 Yanks.

To the eighth, Andujar singled and went to third when Drury singled, Drury advancing on the throw, which hit Andujar. Romine’s RBI groundout made it 7-3.

In came Chapman with a 4-run lead. Because of the All-Star break, he hadn’t pitched in a week, and my friend Larry was worried that Chapman may not have his command. He was right. Shreve was warming with Chapman in the eighth but sat down when Chapman came into the game. So no one was warming up when Chapman did come in.

Note to Boone: never assume.

Chapman was all over the place. At one point he threw 11 straight balls. Walk. Infield single. Walk. Walk to make it 7-4. HBP to make it 7-5. Now Shreve is rushed in with the bases loaded and no one out, and very little if any warmup time after the original warmup. Chapman was booed (he has had a great year, but for this outing, ugh) and the confidence level that the Yanks could get out of this wasn’t too high.

But Shreve got a DP, runner on third scoring, to make it 7-6. Two out, tying run on third, and Shreve got a little nubber back to the mound to end the game.

Whew.

Sanchez still doesn’t look right at the plate, and goodness, how many teams with .600 or better winning percentages have a .188 hitting cleanup hitter?

Judge 3 hits, solo HR. Triple shy of cycle.
Andujar 3 hits, 2 of them doubles
Bird 2 hits, 2 RBI.
Romine 2 RBI

Gray (W, 7-7, 5.34) 5 1/3 IP, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 H, 3 W,  6 K. Gave up 1 HR, 1 HBP
Robertson (H, 15) 2/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 2 K. Made one huge error.  3.05
Holder (H, 5) 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K.  1.76
Betances (H, 16) 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 2 K.  2.55
Chapman 0 IP, 3 R, 1 H, 3 W, 0 K. 1 HBP.  2.03  All 5 runners reached. 19 pitches, 3 strikes.
Shreve (S, 1) 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 0 K.  4.25

It was Shreve’s 2nd MLB save (he had one in 2016). I think he’ll remember this one better than the first one.

Once again, whew.

Update: Chapman said he feels fine and that it wasn’t the knee.

Minor League Report. Gleyber starts rehab today.

Gleyber Torres will begin his rehab today (Saturday) for Tampa and is expected to join the Yanks on Wednesday.

Clint Frazier was placed on the concussion protocol DL.

AAA: Luis Cessa pitched well, and with Domingo German’s poor outing Friday night, will replace German in the rotation. SWB (52-44) won 5-1. 2 hits, solo HR 1B Tyler Austin. 2 hits, HR, 2 RBI SS Abiatal Avelino. 2B Rey Navarro solo HR.

Cessa (W, 3-0, 1.42) 6 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 W, 9 K.
Espinal 2 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 W, 4 K.  2.11
J. Harvey 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 0 K.  1.82

AA: Trenton (53-44) won 10-3. LF Trey Amburgey 3 hits, HR, 2 RBI. 2B Billy Fleming 3 hits, HR, 2 RBI. RF Devyn Bolasky 3 hits, RBI. DH Zack Zehner 2 hits, RBI. 3B Gosuke Katoh 2 hits, 2 RBI.

King (W, 4-2, 2.25) 8 IP, 1 R, 7 H, 2 W, 6 K.
Foley 1 IP, 2 R, 2 H, 0 W, 1 K. Gave up HR.   3.79

High A: Tampa (49-49) lost 7-5. CF Estevan Florial 2 RBI. 2B Diego Castillo 2 hits. 1B Brandon Wagner 2 hits, RBI. 3B Angel Aguilar 2 hits. 2 hits and an RBI for C Keith Skinner.

R. Garcia 6 IP, 2 R, 4 H, 0 W, 5 K.  4.50
Lane (BS, 4) 2 IP, 3 R, 4 H, 0 W, 1 K. Gave up 1 HR.  4.36
Frawley (L, 0-5, 4.81) 1/3 IP, 2 R, 1 H, 1 W, 1 K. Gave up 1 HR, a walkoff 2-run HR.

Low A: Charleston (46-48) lost both games of a DH.

Reg. Scheduled game: Lost 4-1. Got just 5 hits.

Yajure (L, 2-2, 4.31) 5 IP, 4 R, 3 ER, 3 H, 2 W, 1 K.
Alvarez 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K. 0.00

Makeup of 7/19 rainout: Lost 8-1. Got just 1 hit.

Orozco (L, 1-3, 4.50) 2/3 IP, 2 R, 2 H, 1 W, 0 K.
Ramos 1 2/3 IP, 5 R, 5 H, 1 W, 0 K. Gave up 2 HR.  4.30
Vargas 3 2/3 IP, 1 R, 4 H, 0 W, 4 K.  4.42

Game 96. Yanks blow chances in 7-5 loss. German sent down after poor outing, Cessa up.

A poor outing by Domingo German resulted in him being sent down after the Yanks lost to the Mets, 7-5, on Friday night.

The Yanks had their chances, stranding 14, and going 2 for 13 with RISP.

Luis Cessa, who pitched a good game for AAA last night, will come up to take his place.

Before the game, the Yanks activated Gary Sanchez off the DL and sent down Kyle Higashioka. They also brought up Brandon Drury.

German’s first inning woes continued as he gave up three runs. His first inning ERA is 9.00. You can’t just keep putting your team in a hole like that.

It’s becoming more and more apparent how much the Yanks miss Jordan Montgomery. Either Cessa has to step up and step in where German failed, or the Yanks have to make a deal. The loss dropped the Yanks to 62-34, and with Boston’s 1-0 win, put the Yanks now 5 1/2 behind Boston in the AL East. You can’t catch them if the now demoted German, and today’s starter, Sonny Gray, keep pitching as poorly as they have been.

Hopefully Gray has a good outing today. I’ll be at the game.

In the bottom of the first, the Yanks had first and third, two out, but Hicks grounded out. There was one chance of many to get something back. There would be many more failures.

In the third, Yoenis Cespedes, just off the DL, homered off the left field foul pole to make it 4-0, Mets.

The Yanks got a run on the third when Gardner and Judge singled and Stanton got a SF.

Three walks by Adam Warren in the fifth helped lead to two Mets runs. 6-1, Mets.

In the sixth, Sanchez and Bird singled, and Walker doubled in two runs. 6-3.

The Yanks loaded the bases with two out in the seventh but Andujar flied out.

In the eighth, with one out, Gardner reached on an error and Judge singled. Didi doubled in one run to make it 6-4, and a Stanton RBI groundout made it 6-5. But with first and third, two out, Sanchez struck out.

It seems like on those sliders down and away, Sanchez is either not recognizing the slider or trying to pull everything. Or both. He needs to shoot for RCF more often. He’s strong enough to take advantage of the porch. He’s way better than the .191 he’s at now. Embarrassing.

A WP helped lead to a Mets’ run in the top of the ninth. With two out in the bottom of the ninth, Walker walked, but Gardner, as the tying run, grounded out to end the game.

Judge 3 hits.
Didi 3 hits, RBI
Stanton 2 RBI
Andujar 2 hits.
Walker 2 RBI

German (L, 2-6, 5.68) 3 2/3 IP, 4 R, 5 H, 2 W, 3 K. Gave up 1 HR. To AAA after game.
Warren 1 IP, 2 R, 2 H, 3 W, 2 K.  2.49    Couldn’t hold them
Shreve 1 1/3 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 W, 1 K.   4.37
Green 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 0 K.  2.68
Holder 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K.   1.80
Cole 1 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 0 W, 1 K.  0.92 as NYY   1 WP

Brad Hand, a lefty reliever the Yanks were interested in acquiring, was dealt to Cleveland instead. SD had asked for Andujar.

 

Minor League Report. Frazier Injured?

I don’t know if the Yanks would have traded Clint Frazier anyway, word is he’s off the table, but it may turn out that they couldn’t anyway. Frazier dove for a ball in the first inning and was pulled from the game shortly thereafter.

AAA: SWB (51-44) won 7-3. Shane Robinson, Frazier’s replacement, 2 hits. 1B Mike Ford, 3 hits, triple shy of the cycle, HR a solo HR off of Andrew Miller. 3B Rey Navarro 2 hits, double, HR,  2 RBI. C Francisco Diaz 2 RBI. 2B Brandon Drury 2 hits, RBI.

SWB’s bullpen pitched 4 2/3 scoreless, no-hit innings. Columbus had Andrew Miller pitching (rehab) and Shane Bieber, who recently faced the Yanks, pitched as well.

Swanson 4 1/3 IP, 3 R, 4 H, 0 W, 3 K. Gave up 1 HR. 4.54
Gallegos (W, 2-1, 3.55) 2 2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 4 K.
Kahnle 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 w, 1 K.  2.65
Carroll 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 3 K.  2.43

AA: Trenton (52-44) lost 3-2. SS Kyle Holder 2 RBI.

Bollinger (L, 4-4, 5.34) 5 IP, 3 R, 2 ER, 6 H, 0 W, 3 K
Koerner 2 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 2 W, 1 K.  3.28
Sosebee 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 W, 0 K.  3.86

High A: Tampa (49-48) won 4-2. CF Estevan Florial finally back here after being out with an injury and rehabbing at a lower level. 3B Angel Aguilar 2 hits, 2 RBI. DH Rashad Crawford 2 RBI. 2 hits 2B Hoy Jun Park. 3 hits LF Dom Thompson-Williams.

L. Rijo (W, 1-0, 3.00) 6 IP, 2 R, 6 H, 0 W, 3 K.
Weissert (H, 2) 12/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 2 W, 2 K.  3.60
Wivinis (S, 7) 1 1/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 2 K.  1.95

Low A: Charleston rained out.